The long-simmering disagreement over an Indiana congressional redistricting has exploded into a political spectacle, with President Donald Trump warning Republican state senators of electoral retribution.
Gov. Mike Braun piled on this week, pledging to “support President Trump’s efforts to recruit, endorse, and finance primary challengers” against fellow Republicans who don’t abide by Trump’s edict to redraw the congressional maps so the state has more GOP-friendly districts.
“That certainly is unprecedented to have a governor and the president threatening to support a primary opponent, but it’s just part of the system, too,” Sen. Travis Holdman told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “But I’m not surprised by it.”
Holdman, R-Markle, is the third-ranking Republican senator as majority caucus chair and made himself one of Trump’s targets this week by announcing: “The message from my district has been clear — they do not support mid-cycle redistricting, and therefore I cannot support it.”
Holdman, who has been in the Senate since 2008, has not yet drawn any Republican primary challengers for his reelection bid next year.
At least two other Republican senators who’ve expressed opposition to redistricting — Spencer Deery of West Lafayette and Jim Buck of Kokomo — already have GOP opponents who’ve seized on the redistricting issue.
Paula Copenhaver, a top aide to Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and the Fountain County Republican chair, announced her challenge to Deery on Tuesday, the same day Deery voted in favor of scratching a planned December redistricting debate and not starting the legislative session until Jan. 5.
“Hoosiers have watched weak leadership in the state Senate fail to deliver the redistricting plan needed to keep America on a path that will deliver affordability to American families,” Copenhaver said in her announcement. “District 23 deserves a senator who is unapologetically willing to take on the radical Democrats’ socialist agenda.”
Deery counters that he’s heard overwhelmingly from voters that they oppose redistricting, but said that “because of the D.C. influence, I suspect it will probably be a campaign rife with distortions about all kinds of things.”
Possible Republican primary landscape
The primary challenger threat from Trump and Braun, however, could be muted by the election cycle of senators who serve four-year terms.
Republicans now hold a 40-10 majority in the Senate, with 22 Republican-held and three Democratic-held seats up for election in 2026. Of those 22 Republican senators:
- 12 have announced support for redistricting.
- Six have indicated opposition, but two — Eric Bassler of Washington and Greg Walker of Columbus — were already not seeking reelection next year.
- Four haven’t announced stances on redistricting — Dan Dernulc of Highland, Greg Goode of Terre Haute, Rick Niemeyer of Lowell and Linda Rogers of Granger.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, the principal target of Trump’s ire this past week, won a new term last year and his seat isn’t up for election again until 2028. Trump went so far as to label Bray “a Complete and Total RINO” — short for “Republican in name only.”
Buck, a senator from Kokomo since 2008, has an announced challenger in Tipton County Commissioner Tracey Powell.
Powell maintained in a recent statement that redistricting was needed “to ensure that every voice in our state is heard and properly represented. Senator Buck has not been supportive of President Trump.”
Buck did not return a message seeking comment this week, but said in an August interview that he believed redistricting was unnecessary.
Sen. Kyle Walker is the other announced Republican redistricting foe up for reelection in 2026. Walker, however, represents one of the state’s few politically close state Senate districts, covering the northeastern corner of Indianapolis and the Fishers area in Hamilton County. He won the 2022 election with 55% of the vote.
Beckwith says Senate ‘slapped’ Braun
Redistricting supporters want Indiana lawmakers to craft a map with all nine of the state’s congressional districts favoring Republicans. Those would be based on 2020 census data, like the current maps.
Those were drawn by Republicans in 2021 and maintained a 7-2 GOP majority — with Democrat Frank Mrvan holding the 1st District in northwestern Indiana and Democrat André Carson holding the 7th District, which covers much of Indianapolis.
Trump started the national redistricting fight by pushing Texas Republicans to redraw its congressional map this summer. The pressure on Indiana Republicans has included trips in August and October by Vice President JD Vance to Indianapolis.
Beckwith, who has had a contentious relationship with Braun as lieutenant governor, said he will be recruiting candidates to challenge incumbent senators after Bray “slapped” Braun in the face with last week’s announcement that the Senate wouldn’t take up redistricting in December.
“I was very offended by that. That was really uncalled for,” Beckwith told the Capital Chronicle. “I think that’s kind of what sparked it for me. I was like, ‘OK, if that’s what the Senate thinks of our governor, then we need a new Senate.’”
Beckwith presides over Senate sessions as lieutenant governor, but he has clashed before with the chamber’s GOP members. That included bashing “some squish senators” for scaling back Braun’s proposed property tax overhaul earlier this year.
Beckwith said he believes Trump’s political organization and groups allied with the president would provide financial backing and other campaign support for the primary challengers.
“We’re going to make people recognize, hey, if you’re going to keep to the seat, you’re going to have to spend a lot of money to do it,” Beckwith said. “You’re going to have to work your butt off to do it.”
The campaign cash at play
Incumbent senators facing challengers can likely count on financial support from the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, which ended last year with nearly $1.9 million in cash. It most certainly has more money now but an updated state Election Division report isn’t due until January.
Bray’s campaign fund, which can be shared with other candidates, had about $785,000 at the end of 2024.
Former Sen. Jim Merritt, who was a longtime member of the Republican leadership team before leaving the Senate in 2020, doubted the redistricting issue’s influence in the May 2026 legislative primary without Trump’s name on the ballot.
“I think all the incumbents will be well funded. I think they’ll be able to raise money themselves,” Merritt said. “The Senate majority will back up these members who are with Senator Bray.”
Deery won his first term in 2022 after winning a four-way primary with 31% of the vote, with Copenhaver finishing third at 23%.
Deery said he’s confident with his argument against mid-decade redistricting.
“I really find that strong conservatives understand that you don’t want to give the government a power that you wouldn’t want to give your worst political enemy,” he said. “What’s being suggested is that we give the power to establishment map makers, to choose their electorate before any election and not just once every 10 years. That is a power that should scare any conservative.”
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
